Vespers.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXI, Issue 18, 30 April 1903, Page 4

Vespers.

There was another very large congregation ot Vespers, when the visitors again assisted the choir in rendering the incidental music, among the items being a ' Tantum Ergo' (Murphy), ' Aye Verum ' (Murphy), ■' Aye Maria,' and an ' O Salutaris,' the soloists being Mrs. Lynch, Mr. Jefferson, and the Rev. Father O'Reilly. Before the sermon the Right Rev. Mgr. Mackay took the opportunity of thanking the visiting prelates and uergy, and those who had assisted the choir during the day. He said that the generous response to the appeal for subscriptions had been beyond all anticipations, which was particularly gratifying considering the number of demands that had been made of late on the congregation. The sermon was preached by the Very Rev. Father Keogh, S.M., who dealt with the building of temples and churches for the worship of the Most High, and gave an able vindication of the practice as followed by the Catholic Church. He deprecated the widespread opinion^ that God did not desire the erection of temples in His honor, and contended that the buildings erected by the Church were symbolical of the faith, and the materialisation of the spiritual beliefs of its adherents. He instanced the impressive monuments raised by the ancients to emphasise their religious ideals, and remarked in passing that when Jerusalem was sacked by the Romans the temple alone was held sacred by the soldiers from the general destruction. He gave a brief outline of the history of the basilicas such as that they were gathered in, and stated that the buildings took their origin in Rome, where those devoted to the faith held divine worship. The rev. gentleman concluded an eloquent and telling address by appealing to the members of the Catholic Church to make earnest endeavor to understand the true intentions of the Church in erecting their magnificent places of worship, and to realise that they were not mere edifices in stone and other soulless matter but temples of God, as they themselves were temples of God.